I have a small leak on my 931B and I think this could be why. There is a non Cat hose with Cat reusable fitting which has worked for some time but this doesn't look right. It appears the outer sleeve has slid back 1/8" or so. Would/could this cause a small leak when when digging into a packed pile of clay to fill the bucket? It's a very small leak and I think might only leak when the max. pressure is applied. I'm replacing the hose but wanted to hear what others think of my diagnosis?
It could be what is the hose for. Tilt cylinder, lift cylinder, or maybe the pressure hose to the main control valve?
Collar positioned that way isn't a factor in your leak. The drawback of Cat reusable hose ends, and why you don't see them on Cat new machines, is because the hose end is not sealed from the environment. This allows the steel wire within to rust, causing internal and external separation of the components. Typically I find a bulge or blister in the outer jacket about an inch up the rubber from the reusable end, and hose failure shortly thereafter.
Judging by all the dings on the collar and the part of the stem that is visible neither of them should really have been re-used the last time the hose failed. As HMC says the collar not being fully on isn't the cause of your leak.
I wonder if the collar worked it's way off a bit? The hose is for the lift side of the loader boom cylinder and had some small cracks in it and was wet were it dropped down to make a loop. I'm sure if the collar was removed there would be some kind of junk metal or plastic shims around the hose to make the space. There was on a couple other hoses on the machine. The leak was very small so maybe on the other side of the collar??? The hose for lowering is right beside it and is caked with some wet dirt but it wasn't wet all the way down the loop. I think the lift hose generally works harder (is under more pressure) than the lowering hose and more likely to develop a leak. It gets below freezing now so I couldn't pressure wash all the dirt off the hoses but am going to monitor the other hose as close as I can. The hoses have a metal wrapped protector on them so it's hard to see or feel if the hose is damaged under the dirt. When I got the new hose made I mentioned to the guy about cutting the old hose to put the metal wrap on the new hose. I'm guessing he didn't want any oil on his cutter because he said it should just spiral off. Not a chance. It's about a 3/8" wide strip. I cut the old hose and got the wrap off but near impossible to spiral over the fittings on the new hose without opened up every spiral. I had some hard plastic hose protector so used that.
Mixing hose brands is a crap shoot and can be very dangerous. The connector crimps down on the hose to firmly attach it to the hose, without failure or leakage, up to the maximum rated pressure, which is usually clearly marked on the hose. So if the hose is not Cat, and not rated for the Cat press-on fittings, it is a failure waiting to happen. Its been a while, but it seems to me that there is (or was) a specific Cat hose rated for the press-on fittings, and I seem to remember that there were at least 2 pressure ratings available, that used different hoses and crimp fittings for each rating. A minor leak is a warning. Probably the non-Cat hose is too small to be properly pressed by the Cat crimp sleeve. If the sleeve looks like it have moved a bit it is either moving or the previous guy didn't know how the hose press should work. I'm glad you are replacing the hose assembly, because it is better the (small) pain of buying a new hose versus getting a faceful of hot oil at 4000 psi... Similar advice applies to all the different manufacturers hoses and crimp fittings. Match the brands up and make sure, if you are doing the crimping, how to set up the crimper so a proper (safe) crimp is made. Sounds like the guy who was making the new hose for you was a j***off. Not wanting to spend a minute or two to wipe off your old steel protection wrap to put it on the new hose is grounds to go to someone else for your next hose replacements. The comment from someone that new Cat equipment doesn't even use their own hose crimp design speaks volumes. Its too F'n expensive and is bulky to boot, even for Cat. Back in the day, I had a whole sawmill complex using Cat hose fittings, mostly because they were reusable. The purchase orders for replacement hose and fittings were heavenly expensive....I finally drew the line when I saw the guys using 4000 psi Cat hose and fittings on air cylinders at 100 psi. Jon.
Expensive or not, the fault was moisture intrusion into the braid wire. They also required the hose to be skived. Throw the old ends in the wheelabrator tumblast, then install onto Cat hose that has been skived. If you reused the ends, the replacement hose was certainly less expensive.
I had the main hose from the pump to the control valve come completely apart in the worst possible location with the back hoe stabilizers down. The hose(non Cat) was perfectly skived and looked like new. Inspecting the Cat fittings, there was a scrap metal tag from something used as a spacer on one end and a piece of stiff plastic on the other end. I think I still have that hose, I should have took some pics. Wish I could have strangled the idiot that made that hose. Not fun laying in 60 litres of oil underneath an already low machine partly sunk in soft ground. I had to use a shovel to basically lift and slam the belly pan into the ground to get it down enough I could slide it back off the I beam track frames cross beam. It had fittings with specific angles so to make it easier to put the new hose on I added a swivel 90 deg. I could set to the right angle before tightening. Going to a Cat dealer for hose assemblies even with reusing the fittings doesn't usually save you much money because of all the labour involved with the reusable fittings. I think the guy that made the hose was being a little lazy and didn't comprehend how stiff the steel protector was. I think the plastic protector should work OK though. The hose can rub on the frame a little when the loader boom is down. Nothing serious though.
Damn. I want to get a hose for the other side and I think it's the same so I looked at the receipt to see the size of fittings. The guy charged me for 90 deg. fittings when they are straight. 90's cost $18.99 and straight is only $9.99. I got over charged $18.00. Have to see if they'll give a credit if I get another hose made.